Hough: Poverty has crippling impact on children, families

The impact of poverty on our communities and the long-term social and economic effects of the same on children and families continue to be of major concern.

I have addressed this issue on a number of occasions. However, it is now time to weigh in more directly and candidly. I warn you, this three-part series is going to be the most sobering triumvirate I've delivered to date, rated PG-13.

After Hurricane Katrina, my research agenda focused on the impact of "refugees" who relocated in the southern portion of Alabama. Communities from Spanish Fort to Gulf Shores implemented a federally funded character education program designed to help children adjust to new surroundings and succeed in school.

Soon after that project, I took a sabbatical to study a classroom management approach designed to help poor children learn to respect themselves and others, behave in school and learn at high levels. Those travels took me to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Wisconsin.

In a former life, I had studied programs from Humboldt County, Calif., to San Diego. In an isolated place known as the Coachella Valley in the Mohave Desert, I examined a day care and parenting program on a high school campus in a school district taken over and run by the California Department of Education.

Back here in God's Country a few years ago, I evaluated the 21 Missouri Community Partnerships scattered throughout our state. Every one of these was doing heroic work leveraging resources to help families living in poverty.

From the Deep South to the Great Lakes, from the West Coast to the Eastern Seaboard, and smack dab in the center of our nation, the ever-increasing number of Hispanics, African-Americans and Caucasians living in poverty is, in my opinion, the single greatest threat to the future of our nation. What is the solution?

Changing the cultural environments that contribute to a lifestyle may be the only way to break the spiraling condition of poverty. By in large, schools (even the low-performing ones) are the best place many poor children will encounter on any given day. These children need to encounter school environments (and other, similar ones) 24 hours a day.

Because the 24-hour a day approach cannot happen, extending the amount of time children living in poverty spend in positive environments before and after school, on weekends and during the summer may be the only option. Look for Part II next week.